i live in a super cold area right now, and i used to live in a super hot area of japan. i’m used to both.
doesn’t a&m have like 20k more undergrads than uofm? that difference is pretty big for me.
That’s incorrect.
Let’s say you didn’t have NMF - Bama based on a 3.5. Schools like Arizona and Kavsaa have a sliding scale.
Some require test. Some don’t.
Some don’t do a lot of merit. Others do and you can often tell which based on the % of kids out of state.
Tulsa, interestingly, had the highest concentration of NMFs (25%+) but not your major - biomedical. Same with Bana which has or had the most in volume - 1k plus there. But UAB, also great merit, has biomedical eng and a top hospital.
University of Tulsa seems to have mechanical engineering…another choice of the OP.
Department of Mechanical Engineering - The University of Tulsa.
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You could get lots at a lot of schools - may or may not. I’m against it because they don’t have MechE and you named as a possibility. There’s many schools like this.
But you could assure you get a low cost at schools that have auto merit - meaning your stats drive it. Bama, UAH for smaller, Ms State, KU, UMN (their NPC tells you), and many more. There’s others that are not specific but provide a minimum - South Carolina, Auburn, Miami Ohio and more.
But you are a bit opposite saying cost doesn’t matter but now seeking cost.
So I’m a bit confused.
Yea. But I’d think OP would want a school that has both but no doubt even if they don’t they can, via electives or a minor, perhaps get exposure.
And many companies seek all sorts so medical will want MechE as an example.
my parents are willing to pay for any school i go to, but obviously having cheaper alternatives would also be helpful because we’re not enormously wealthy. it’s more about having multiple options to choose from.
by the way, i just want to thank you all for the valuable information so far! u guys have given me so much insight and i think i’m going to have to look for colleges more thoroughly 
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I have an apartment in Japan and I went to school in Houston. Houston is both Hotter and more humid, if you can imagine that. Houston’s all time high is 2°C than Japan’s all time high and the humidity is 10% higher. It may not seem like much, but Houston is rough in the summer. As an undergrad you might be able to avoid it though. There’s a lot to like about Rice.
Now is the time. 
So build a proper list so that you have options.
NMF and high merit can get you $20k or less…many fit here small and large. Tulsa, Bama, UTD, Texas Tech, Ms State, U Houston and more.
Mid level cost at fantastic schools like Purdue, UMN, UF, Georgia Tech, School of Mines. .
And a couple of high cost from your list like Cornell, Northwestern and USC.
And you’d have a great list.
My kid had 19 interviews and 5 offers by xmas at Bama. His intern company offered later.
If you bust tail, you can do well from anywhere. He outperformed the Ga Tech interns he lived and worked with at his job. They did not get a return invite.
In the end, if you give yourself options at different price points, mom can decide how much writing that big check 2x a year will impact her vs a smaller or small one. Paying $40k plus twice a year may be painful - would be to me. How would she feel ? In many cases the job you obtain will be similar regardless of where you attend. Not in all cases but many.
You will work your tail off no matter where you go. Engineering and CS are the majors with the highest change/drop out rate.
Good luck.
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It sounds as though cost is not the biggest factor at play, but it is something that you’re cognizant of. It’s a commonly held belief that the most expensive schools are not necessarily the best schools for engineering. There are excellent engineering schools that are at the high end of the price range, but there are also excellent engineering schools with more moderate prices.
Using this aggregator, I looked up the cost of attendance (COA) for the schools on your list as well as the percentage of students without need who received merit aid and the average amount of aid received. Aggregators can have mistakes and for schools you’re seriously considering, it is best to look at their Common Data Set (CDS) in section H2. But for a quick and dirty look, the aggregator works.
Additionally, I looked up to see whether a school had ABET-accredited mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering. ABET-accredited MechE is very important (so important that it’s the only ABET field that Cal Tech has continued to seek accreditation for). I do not know how important ABET-accreditation is for biomedical engineering, however. That is something you will need to research.
| School | COA | % without need receiving merit aid | Average merit scholarship | Cost after average merit | Mech E. ABET | BiomedABET |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carnegie Mellon | $83,697 | 5% | $41,651 | $42,046 | Yes | No |
| Case Western | $82,374 | 41% | $26,072 | $56,302 | Yes | Yes |
| Cornell | $88,140 | N/A | N/A | $88,140 | Yes | Yes |
| CU-Boulder | $63,220 | 34% | $10,199 | $53,021 | Yes | No |
| Georgia Tech | $52,180 | 7% | $5,903 | $46,277 | Yes | Yes |
| Johns Hopkins | $86,713 | 7% | $24,474 | $62,239 | Yes | Yes |
| Northeastern | $86,821 | 30% | $14,204 | $72,617 | Yes | Yes |
| Northwestern | $91,236 | 3% | $9,028 | $82,208 | Yes | Yes |
| Purdue | $41,864 | 8% | $5,631 | $36,233 | Yes | Yes |
| Rice | $78,978 | 4% | $19,528 | $59,450 | Yes | Yes |
| Tulane | $87,446 | 33% | $18,997 | $68,449 | No | Yes |
| UCB | $78,795 | 6% | $7,288 | $71,507 | Yes | No |
| UCI | $70,604 | 4% | $8,406 | $62,198 | Yes | Yes |
| UIUC | $53,706 | 12% | $7,287 | $46,419 | Yes | Yes |
| Umich | $74,093 | 11% | $6,027 | $68,066 | Yes | Yes |
| UW-Madison | $58,303 | 8% | $6,296 | $52,007 | Yes | Yes |
As mentioned upthread, Tulane is not ABET-accredited for MechE, so that seems a good enough reason to eliminate it. CMU, CU-Boulder, and Cal are not ABET-accredited for biomedical engineering.
Additionally, I mentioned the imperfections of aggregators. When I saw what pulled up for Carnegie Mellon, I was quite surprised, so I looked up its CDS myself. For SY22-23, only 1.6% of students without need received merit aid and it was an average of $7,591. Obviously, that is a HUGE difference. (I didn’t look, but wonder whether the figures in the aggregator were from a previous year.)
I also looked up Tulane’s, which has its SY23-24 CDS out already. 26.9% of students received merit averaging $17,452. So you can see that 1) you should check out the CDS for more exact figures, and 2) many of the most selective (and expensive) schools are giving less merit aid than they previously did.
All of that to say, this is some additional information that you might want to think about when picking a school.
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I broke away from my previous post because I didn’t want to totally overwhelm you within just one post. 
When you say you want to go to a well-known school, what do you mean by that? Do you mean you want to be able to mention the name of the school and everyone knows the school? If a school plays football or basketball on tv, this will typically be the case. Do you want a school that is well-known and well-respected by employers and grad schools? That might be a very different list from the first one, though there are certainly schools from the first list that would also fall on the second list.
Within most engineering programs, I think you will find a culture of hard work. Do you want that culture of hard work to extend throughout the university? Or is engineering and possibly participation in an honors college sufficient?
Below are some schools that are ABET-accredited for both MechE and BiomedicalE. These are schools that I think would be likely to give you merit aid and/or have a significantly lower sticker price to begin with.
- Worcester Polytechnic
- Stevens Institute of Technology
- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
- U. of Rochester
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- U. of Pittsburgh
- U. of Minnesota - Twin Cities
- Miami U. (OH)
- Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo
- U. of Maryland
- SUNY at Buffalo
- Binghamton
- U. of Texas - Dallas
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Engineering majors in general are hard work, although there may be a distinction between hard and harder (with schools like Caltech and Harvey Mudd being in the latter category).
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Tulane does not have mechanical engineering – it only has biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, and engineering physics as ABET-accredited engineering majors.
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Great info, but the problem is that at public schools listed here give most and in some cases all of their aid to in state students. Just a caveat.
CMU offers no institutional merit scholarships. They do offer a few (extremely competitive) endowed scholarships. So that’s what this is referring to, I believe.
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So if it were me . . .
People are explaining why Tulane does not make much sense, and it is also a college where if you don’t apply ED, they REALLY want other indicators that you have thought carefully about Tulane and are very interested. So I would cut them.
Rice and Case Western are both great schools, but also both have a similar reputation for non-ED kids needing a really good, specific story. So I would cut them too. That said, if you look into Case more and really fall in love with it, maybe, including because they do have robust merit.
Cornell, Northwestern, Hopkins, and CMU are very likely going to be very expensive, and really for MechE I do not think paying that much is at all necessary. It would more be if you were thinking about other stuff as an alternative.
But if you really have a special affinity for Cornell and you and your family are comfortable paying for it–and keep in mind applying ED means you are binding yourself to pay what it costs without comparing offers from other schools–then OK, but I would consider cutting the others.
In contrast, colleges like Georgia Tech, Purdue, and Illinois sound perfect for you. They are great for what you want academically, the engineering kids at those colleges (at least the ones who stay engineering) are super enthusiastic, and even OOS they are not too expensive (as these things go).
Michigan and the UCs, though–very expensive OOS. I am not sure those really have the added value to justify that for your interests. Wisconsin I consider a little borderline at full OOS, same with the Colorado schools.
OK, I’ve hacked down your list, would I add?
Sure, there are more great engineering colleges similar to Georgia Tech, Purdue, and Illinois to consider. I’d definitely look at Virginia Tech, NC State, Ohio State, Minnesota, Iowa State, and Arizona State. These are all great engineering powerhouse colleges, again the sorts where the (surviving) engineering majors are going to be very enthusiastic, and that are also relatively affordable. Michigan State is a bit expensive at full cost, but has a merit program.
Or say you are interested in chasing merit at some selected privates. Again this is where Case could potentially stay on a list, but RPI would definitely be another to consider. Maybe WPI and Drexel.
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And just to add, this is not uncommon at most highly rejective schools. Merit money is given to entice enrollment. At highly rejective schools admission is the only enticement they need to offer.
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They give almost all of their need-based aid to in-state students, but with respect to merit aid, they there is usually no such differentiation for strong students.
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Yes I’m aware.
Clarifying for those, like the OP, that might not be.
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